•The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey comments and thoughts•

During this last month, I was lucky enough to meet up with some fellow bookworms and we all got to watch The Fifth Wave which is a book to movie adaptation. Of course, we had all read the book before ; never the less, everyone had very different opinions about the movie and the book. So I have decided to let you know what they all said!

Quick summary (from shmoop.com)

The human race stands on the brink of extinction as a series of alien attacks decimate the planet, causing earthquakes, tsunamis and disease. Separated from her family, Ohio teenager Cassie Sullivan will do whatever it takes to reunite with her brother Sam. Fate leads her to form an alliance with Evan Walker, a mysterious young man who may be her last hope. Forced to trust each other, Cassie and Evan fight for survival during the fifth assault from the invaders.

Questions

 Can you describe the book in 3 words?

• Interesting, dangerous and Divergent-like

• Amazing, hot characters

• Fictional, mainstream and... boring?

• End of Earth

• Classic teen novel

 What was your favourite thing about the book|movie?

• I liked the way Rick showed that the human race has a real chance of surviving against aliens if we are smart enough.

• My favourite thing would have to be the badass characters who managed to stay alive. 

• Surprisingly, there was one thing I did enjoy about both the book and the movie, and that was the fact that there was a huge plot twist... (spoiler free post).

• I liked to see the way the main character and her brother acted towards each other after so much had happened (the end of the world). I really enjoyed seeing that people still have human feeling even when they believe nothing could get any worse.

• Even though this novel was very much like any other teen-book that is out right now, I enjoyed the way the author came up with the different waves rather than just making it a normal invasion. 

 What was your least favourite thing about the book|movie?

• Honestly, even though the book was entertaining, at a few different points throughout the novel i felt like it would never end since whenever it seemed like it was coming to an end, another problem would pop up. The same thing happened to the movie. 

• The one thing that I didn't love was the way they made the aliens in the movie. I pictured them so differently in my head while I was reading and when I saw them on the screen... I wasn't disappointed, I just wasn't expecting it.

• As mentioned when I described the book in three words, I didn't really like the storyline of this novel|movie because it's just like any other teen book that it out on the market right now. The end of the world..., survivors, aliens, love... I didn't really enjoy reading it. It didn't have a special twist to it. 

• I didn't like how the story didn't have a final cut. I HATE CLIFF HANGERS!

 Who was your favourite character and why? 
• My favourite character is probably Ben because although he goes through a lot during the story, he is still alway able to find a way to keep everybody calm. He is also the smartest character, from my point of view. 
• The character whose story I enjoyed reading best was Evan because he was the one who went through the most character development. 
• Definitely Cassie! She is a badass but she is also loyal to her family. She is quiet and shy at first but then you find out that she is willing to fight anyone when she know what the right thing to do is. She is AMAZING!
• Honestly, I didn't really connect with any of the character.... but if I had to choose one, it would have to be Sammy, Cassie's young brother. This is mainly because she was really cute, not because he had any specific skills I liked. 
• BEN!!!! He was smart, a leader, a strong character. Overall, a really lovable character!

 What score would you give this book out of 10?
• 8 because it was fairly good. It was a really nice easy read. Probably won't read it again, but during the time I was reading it, I really enjoyed it. 
• 7... A fun quick read! 
• 8 because some of the characters had a really interesting and unique story! I definitely recommend it for any young adult reader. 
• 4 because it wasn't too bad but I though it was quite stereotypical. It was kind of like any other YoungAdult book that is out in market at the moment. The characters weren't great and there wasn't a lot of character development. 

• 10!!!! It was amazing! I absolutely tell in love with the book and I can't wait to read the Infinite Sea!

What is better, the book or the movie? 

• ALL THE READERS ANSWERED BOOK!!!! yet they all agreed that it was one of the best book to movie adaptations from a YA book they had watched. 

Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta - A.K.A. greatest book ever written

Hello Readers! 
I recently re-read one of my favourite books and it is easy to say that it is now my favourite book! I think that the reasons why I didn't like it as much when I read it the first time as the second time was because I was younger and couldn't really read between the lines as much. So! I'm going to tell you everything there is to the book without spoilers!

The first thing you should know are the facts about the actual book:

Author: Melina Marchetta

Adaptations: Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

Country: Australia

Genres: Young-adult fiction, Bildungsroman

Originally published: October 5, 1992

The book summary:

Josie Alibrandi is an girl from Italian descent who is growing up in Sydney, Australia. Josie is on scholarship at a prestigious Catholic school where it matters what her father does. Josie doesn't know who her father is as she lives with her mum, Christina, all she knows was that her mother had her against her fathers wishes when she was in her late teens. Josie and her mother's lives are interfered with by Nonna Katia, Christina's mother. 
Josie's father, Michael Andretti, comes back into Josie's life with no idea that he had a daughter. When he finds out he and Josie decide to have nothing to do with each other.

At school Josie hangs out with her misfit friends, Sera, Anna and Lee. She has a crush on the school caption of their brother school, John Barton. She also meets Jacob Coote, the school caption from the local state school, who asks her out... and I know you guys probably want to know more but I can't write any spoilers! 

The main characters:

Josephine Alibrandi

• The main character in the book

• The school vice captain of a high class school

• She is Italian

• She is the only child of single mother

Jacob Coote 

• The school captain from a local state school

• Has a crush on Josie 

• Is kind of a badass

• Is Australian

Christina Alibrandi
• She is Josie's mother
• Had Josie at 17
• She's not married
• She constantly gets told off by her mother
• She is Italian

Katia Alibrandi
• She is Josie's grandmother and Christina's mother
• She is referred to as Nona
• She treats her daughter badly because she is an only mother
• She is Italian











Michael Andretti
• Josie's father
• Lives in Adelaide
• He is unaware that Josie exists
• He owns a fair amount of money









John Barton 
• He's the school captain of a hight class school
• He has been Josie's crush since as far as sh can remember
• Josie's closes boy friend
• His father puts a lot of pressure on him

So now that you have brief idea of what the story is about the characters are in going to tell you what were the best things and the not so great things about this book:

Best Things:

-Such an fast and easy book to read
-Amazing and interesting storyline that makes you wanna keep reading and never let go of the book
-Really good character development throughout the book
-Makes you realise a lot of good and bad things about having different cultures 
-Teaches you so much about Australia

Not so good things:-Cliffhanger at the end! So if that annoys you...

-When I read the book, I would have liked to know more about how Jacob was feeling through the book
-Even though it will teach you a lot about Australian culture, there are some things that you could miss if you don't know a lot about Australia.

 Michael Andretti and Christina

Josie, Nona Katia and Christina Alibrandi

Josie Alibarndi and Jacob Coote

And for you guys who like watching movies... There's a Looking for Alibrandi movie!

Initial release: May 4, 2000
Director: Kate Woods
Running time: 1h 43m
Adapted from: Looking for Alibrandi 
Movie summary and actors:  Josie (Pia Miranda) is struggling to cope with her teenage existence. She lives with her single mother, Christina (Greta Scacchi), and attends a prestigious private school, where her snobbish classmates mock her Sicilian heritage. She contends with the dramas of teen romance, divided between John (Matthew Newton) and Jacob (Kick Gurry). When her family receives a visit from Michael (Anthony LaPaglia), her mother's former lover, Josie is overwhelmed when she discovers that he is also her father.

 

City Of Bones Review!

hey Readers!

During the Christmas holidays, I've read a few books, but I just wanted to share a review about my favourite one; that doesn't mean I didn't like the rest, becuase, NO way, all the books I've read over the holidays were amazing, I loved Ruby Red and the book after it, I loved reading Angel's Fury, it was breath taking; and I also really enjoyed reading An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green, which you probably already know, wrote The Fault In Our Stars. So, as I was saying, during Christmas I read the whole The Mortal Instruments series. I will write a review about the City Of Glass and City of Heavenly fire soon, so if you are interested, it will come up soon. But this post is going to be about the first book in the series: City Of Bones!!!! Which also is a movie, but, as I always say: "Read the book before you watch the movie!". The book was just briliantly written by Cassandra Clare and I personally think it had a great storyline.

The summary of the book:

 When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? The Shadowhunters would like to know... 

My favourite quotes:

1. “Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?' - Clary

"Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself." -Jace

"At least, you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland." -Clary

"Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.” -Jace

2. "Is this the part where you start tearing off strips of your shirt to bind my wounds?"  -Clary

"If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked.” -Jace

3. “Don't touch any of my weapons without my permission." -Jace

"Well, there goes my plan for selling them all on eBay," -Clary

"Selling them on what?" -Jace

"A mythical place of great magical power.” -Clary

• So, as you can see, this book has a lot of fantasy in it. There are a lot of vampires and werewolves and shadowhunters (the ones who keep the demons away from the mundane world (human world)). And I think this is mainly why I kind of fell inlove with this book series; because there is so much fantasy and fiction involved, but still, you can relate to it becuase it all hapens in our world, in New York to be exact. There is a bit of romance involved too, between Clary Fray and Jace Wayland, the two main characters. But still, it's not like one of those romantic novels, that are all about thier realationship, it's more about the way they behave when they are around each other and it shows how different things can be when you fall inlove. But as I was saying before it is defenitely not romantic book, it just has a touch of it to make it more interesting.  This book is great, amazing, perfect, whatever good adjective comes up in your head, it belongs to this book series. It is mind blowing; and is you like  young adult fiction, you should really, really read this book, or even if you don't really enjoy reading that much; there is also a great movie, though, I recommend you read the book first. the movie is called City of Glass and it has great actors in it, such as Lily Collins as Clary and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace. So enjoy, reading this book is defenitely worth it.

The Cast 

•the Mortal Intruments TVshow cast•

Hey guys!
So as you probably already know, the Mortal Intruments series is Turing into a TV show! Which is really exciting. I believe the exact date when the first episode is going to came out hasn't been announced, but what we co know is the CAST! Whohooooo, so that is what this post is going to be about.

1. Clary Fray is going to be played by.... Katherine McNamara

2. Jace Wayland will be played by... Dominic Sherwood

3. Simon Lewis is going to be played by... Alberto Rosende

4. Isabel Lightwood will be played by... Emerque Toubia

5. Alec Lightwood is going to be played by... Matthew Daddario

6. Magnus Bane will be played by... Harry Shum Jr.

7. Jocelyn Fray is going to be played by... Maxim Roy

8. Luke Garroway will be played by... Isaiah Mustafa

9. Valentine Morgestern is going to be played by... Alan Van Sprang

10. Hodge will be played by... Jon Cor

This is part of the old cast and Cassandra Clare:

At the moment, I like the old cast better, but I don't want to say too much about which one is better because I haven't seen the new one in action, acting or anything like that. But I'm sure they are going to be great. I'm really excited about the TV show, I really can't wait until it comes out! 

Here's is one more picture of part of the old cast with the new one (the people on the left are from the old cast and the people one the right are from the new one) 

I hope this was helpful for some of you readers. And if you haven't read the books yet, you should defenitely pick up at least City of Bones (the first book of the series) 

Which cast do you like better? Coment it below. 

~Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard book summary~

Hey guys! 

As I promised on my last post, here is a review of one of the most amazing books that has ever been written, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. 

Characters:

Mare Barrow- main character

Kilorn- Mare's best friend

Gisa (Gee)- Mare's sister

Shade, Bree, and Tramy- Mare's older brothers

Cal- the king's son, general over the Silver army located at the castle

Elara-u wife/queen

Maven- Elara's son

Lucas- assigned as Mare's guard

Julian- one of Mare's trainers and the former queen's brother

Arven- one of Mare's trainers

Evangeline- Cal's betrothed

Summary:

     Reds and Silvers.  The Reds are treated as slaves since they do not have the abilities the Silvers have. Silvers all have some sort of superhuman power: there are telkies (use telekinesis), nymphs (control water), strongarms (superhuman strength), swifts (amazingly fast), greenys (can bend nature to their will), etc.

    Mare and her family are Reds and live in one of the villages called the Stilts.  A few Reds are able to become apprentices for jobs that the Silvers see fit for them.  Mare's sister Gisa has been apprenticed as a silk maker for example, and her friend Kilorn is apprenticed as a fisherman.  For those who are not suitable to the tasks, they are sent to the war in a process called conscription after they turn 18. It is the Silver's war between each other battling for lands, but very few Silvers fight and instead the Reds are sent to the frontlines to die.

     When Kilorn's master (this is what they call the teachers who are training the apprentices for their specific career) dies in an accident, Kilorn informs Mare that he will be sent for conscription, and although she is scheduled to go as well, she feels the need to protect Kilorn.

    Mare is a master thief and decides to visit her friend Will who runs the local black market to get him to try to help smuggle Kilorn out of the city and go into hiding.  There Will introduces her to Farley, the head of the Scarlet Guard (rebels that are trying to start a war against the Silvers to demand equality), and Farley says she will help smuggle Kilorn in exchange for a huge payment.           Mare knows the only way she can come up with that much money at once is to steal from the Silvers and asks for Gisa's help.  When Mare can't find an opening to steal, Gisa tries to do it for her but is caught and her hand is crushed, meaning she will not be able to apprentice sewing anymore.

     Distraught but refusing to give up, Mare goes to the local tavern to pickpocket people there and is caught by a boy named Cal when she tries to steal from him.  He begins talking to her asking her why she's stealing and something about him and the stressful day she has had makes her break down and tell him about everything that's happened.  He walks her home and gives her the money he has on him.

     The next day a guard knocks on the Barrow's door and says that Mare is to come with them.  She is taken to the king's castle and put to work as a servant there.  She finds out it was Cal's doing to help her escape conscription when she sees that he is actually the son of the king.

     Mare learns an event called Queenstrial is going on, which is the event the Silvers have where the young girls compete with their abilities to earn the right to marry the prince.  The queen has a son named Maven (Cal's half brother due to the fact that Cal's mother, the former queen, is dead), so there will actually be two marriages.

     Mare is serving at the Queenstrial when she falls off the balcony of the arena where the contestants are showing their skills and lands on the electrical shield which is blocking the Silver's in the stands from the abilities being used below.

    Mare expects to die, but instead absorbs the electricity into her body and falls unharmed.  The Silver girl currently in the arena (Evangeline, the girl who ends up being pledged to marry Cal) uses her magnetic ability to try to kill Mare but Mare throws her hands up and ends up shooting lightning from her fingertips.  She knows she is about to be killed so she runs but is captured.

     The Silvers are in a frenzy knowing that a Red has the same powers they do, so in order to mask it, the king tells Mare that she will wed Maven, and her backstory is that she always believed she was Red, having been raised by Reds, but it turns out that she is one of the fallen Silver general's daughters.

     His angle is that he thinks she will be able to bridge the gap between the Reds and the Silvers and make speeches to help stop the war the Scarlet Guard has started, by showing that Silvers are kind to Reds, knowing she has been raised as one.

     Mare begins training with the other Silvers to control her powers, including Maven and Cal, and ends up growing close to them both.  Cal shows her how to sneak out of the castle to see her family one last time since she never got to say goodbye before she was taken. She tells them the whole story and they are understanding, but Kilorn vows to join the Scarlet Guard and stop what Mare is being forced into.  Mare learns at this time that Shade has been killed in the war and she joins the Scarlet Guard herself along with Maven, who wants change also.

     They help Farley plan an attack on a few of the Silvers who have hands in the war during a ball that is planned.  The key targets are killed but a bomb also explodes killing many others.  Farley and Kilorn are captured and are tortured to try to get information out of them.  Maven and Mare must stand aside and act like they know nothing, but Mare enlists Julian's help since he can control minds and they use this against the guards to help the prisoners escape without anyone being the wiser.

    Before Julian runs, knowing Elara will find out he helped due to the abilities used, he tells Mare that she is neither Red nor Silver but stronger than both, and he has been researching her DNA and came up with many others just like her, Shade having been one of them.  Mare realizes this is why he had been killed in the war.

    Before Mare will help them escape she asks Farley about the bomb as it was only supposed to be a few targets, and after Farley swears she doesn't know about any bomb, Mare finds out it wasn't a bomb at all but a gas leak that ignited while Cal was using his fire powers to try to capture the prisoners.

    After the Scarlet Guard attack which now has the Silvers on edge, Farley manages to meet back up with Mare and Maven and they take the Undertrain (which I picture as a subway) to the irradiated part of the country.  It turns out it isn't plagued by radiation at all and this is where the Scarlet Guard along with any Reds seeking refuge have built a city.  They have tech that makes the place still seem like it has radiation to the Silver's radiation detection machines.

       At their meeting with Farley, Mare gives her the names Julian had written down and tells her they could build an army that could win the war, but Farley says they do not have enough time for that, since the Silver's are retaliating harshly after the attack by imposing curfews, killing any Reds who step out of line at all, and offering freedom from conscription for information leading to the arrest of the Scarlet Guard. She says there are a lot of Reds who will help, but even more who would turn them in to save their sons and daughters from conscription.

     Maven says that they could hit the Silver's at their heart by sneaking into the castle and forcing the king to surrender, since he is the heart of the war anyways.  If he falls, the war ends.  Farley and Mare state that there's no way they would get past all the guards, but Maven knows Cal is in love with Mare (as he is also), and says that if it were between Cal's crown or saving Mare (knowing that if the plan fails she'll be seen as a rebel and be executed), Cal would always choose Mare and convince his army to step away and not attack the Guard.

     They all sneak up through the tunnels under the city and blow up the bridge leading to the castle.  When the Silver guards run in, Cal included, Mare tells him that he should choose to make a new world, a better world, and choose her.

     She is acting like she loves him, and although a part of her despises him for the way he believes the war needs to continue in order to avoid the fall of both races (and he's sure the Silvers are in the right), there is a part that also remembers how kind he's been to her and the way he's shown her he loves her, and she realizes her words are not totally false.

     The plan goes awry when he does not listen to her though and instead puts two and two together, realizing she is with the Guard and is partly responsible for all the deaths at the ball and the other attacks on the Silvers.

     Maven, the Guard, and Mare run to escape but are captured and taken before the king.  Elara wants to save her son, so she uses her mind control powers to disable the king and Cal.  Mare has hope that they will be saved even though Elara has always treated her like trash.

     Elara forces Cal to kill the king, his father, as Mare and Maven watch.  When Mare looks over at Maven, she sees that he is smiling and realizes this was his and his mother's plan the whole time and he has used her and the Guard from the beginning.  Now he will be king since Cal will be seen as a king killer and executed, and Elara will still serve by his side, while Cal and Mare will be executed for treason.  We learn that Maven made Julian has already been killed since they knew too much.

   The arena for Silvers who have commited treason is called the Circle of Bones, and Maven tells Cal and Mare this is where they will meet their end.

     When they arrive, Lucas is there and is executed in front of them before they are sent into the arena to fight barehanded against some of the best recruits with Arven watching.  He is their former battle trainer who apparently is in cahoots with Elara.  He can diminish recruits abilities and he does this to Mare so that she can't use her electricity against the foes, including Evangeline with her magnetic abilities and her brother Ptolemus.  They evade the warriors as long as they can, with Cal telling Mare to stay behind him and he'll try to protect her.

     Mare tricks one of the fighters into throwing a spear at her while she's in front of Arven and she steps out of the way at the last second, causing Arven to be killed by the spear.  Her abilities return and she begins fighting with Cal.  In the meantime, Maven has had the arena spectators evacuated "for their safety", but really because he is still trying to cover up the fact that Mare is Red but has abilities.

   After defeating all the warriors (Evangeline ran when she saw they were losing), Maven sends in the guards to kill them, but a storm has been brewing and Mare uses her ability to control the lightning and destroy the arena to try to buy them time to escape.  Maven tells the guards to shoot them and Mare knows it's over, but when she hears gunfire she realizes it's coming from the chasm in the arena that held the water for the nymph warrior to fight them with and she sees the guards fall.  Hands grab her and Cal and pull them into the chasm and the water below.

    Mare wakes on an Undertrain headed for the Scarlet Guard's city to find that Shade is alive and on the train with them.  He reveals that he has a teleportation ability and that's why the Silvers have not been able to kill him even though they've tried.  He tells her that their parents and brothers are waiting for them at the Scarlet Guard city. Cal is tied up and although Mare tries to convince Farley to let him go, stating that he saved her life in the Circle of Bones, Farley says she won't ever trust another Silver.  Mare and Cal exchange looks and Mare realizes that although he could burn the chains on his wrists at any time and escape he chooses not to, and Mare knows it's because they BOTH have unfinished business with Maven and want to find the others like Mare to take him down.

They say a picture can say a 1000 words, so here you have some pictures, read...

 If you're going to pick up a book, pick this one up. Join the Red Guard, and rise as red as dawn!

by ABooktifulLife 

summary by TheSpoilerAlerts